Suspended sentence for indecent teacher

A former teacher has been given a suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to twice indecently assaulting students at an exclusive Sydney boys’ school in the 1980s.

Adrian John Nisbett, 61, had pleaded guilty at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court to assaulting boys aged 16 and 17 at Knox Grammar School between February and December 1986.

The court was told that Nisbett, a boarding house master at the school, was a keen photographer and had a darkroom in his residence where both assaults occurred.

Nisbett invited one of the victims, a 17-year-old boarder, into the darkroom where the lights were switched off and, as he crouched over equipment, moved his elbow into the groin of the youth.

“He moved his elbow up and down in a circular motion on the victim’s genitals which made the victim feel uncomfortable and scared and he left the room,” Judge Anthony Garling said in his sentencing remarks today.

Details of the offence against the second 16-year-old victim were similar, leaving the teenager feeling “uncomfortable and disturbed”.

“I am satisfied that each of these offences was a gross breach of trust,” Judge Garling said, which Nisbett did “for his own sexual gratification”.

Police launched an investigation into the matters in 2004 at which point Nisbett resigned from his 30-year career as a teacher at Knox Grammar.

Considered an “excellent teacher who made a significant contribution to the school”, Nisbett was arrested in February 2009.

On Friday he was sentenced to terms of imprisonment of 14 months and 10 months on each of the charges, both suspended, allowing Nisbett to continue living in the community and be of good behaviour.

Judge Garling found that Nisbett had suffered “public humiliation” as a result of much media attention surrounding the offences, which he took into account in sentencing.